My parents had lunch at Ye Olde Land of Fruit Elementary School with Sydney on Friday to celebrate Grandparents' Day and while they were nearby, they swung by the house to kidnap the boys for a couple of days. Just two hours later, Ryan and Sydney were on the road heading toward East Texas for their very first camping trip (Syd had an absolute blast, btw, so I'm guessing this is going to be a regular thing).
So that left me with an empty house. Ahhh....
While I thought I'd spend the entire time vegetating, I surprised myself by getting quite a bit done. In those 48 hours I managed to:
* clean out Liam's closet.
* organize and pack up all of our baby gear to either give away or sell.
* clean out a flower bed.
* put mulch down in another flower bed.
* give myself a pedicure.
* go to dinner and a non-animated movie with my sister ("The Time Traveler's Wife").
* read an entire book ("The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society").
* re-organize a bunch of photos of the kids.
* read the entire Sunday paper.
The only bad thing about the weekend is that my annual case of allergy-related hives struck on Saturday. And as if the hives weren't bad enough, my hands, feet and face began to swell, too. I woke up this morning (my hives episodes can last up to a month or two) with big, full lips that rivaled those of this famous celebrity. Unfortunately, the hives also caused my eyes to be puffy and swollen so I looked more like Janice from "The Muppet Show" than the above-linked movie star. C'est la vie.
While I had a great time on my much-needed break, I really did miss the kids. I didn't miss the whining (oh, the whining!), but I did miss their laughter and kisses and hugs. I think we all needed a little break from each other so that we could be reminded of how much we really love each other. As sappy as it sounds, absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.
I'm glad that you got a much deserved break. I can't believe how much you accomplished. Amazing what can be done without all the "little" interruptions and distractions. I know it's always surprising to me too.
ReplyDeleteI would totally have been driven to get stuff done, too, no matter how much I resolved to just chill out. Have you found that once you have kids, doing projects ALONE or cleaning ALONE or even grocery shopping ALONE starts to feel like FUN? The standards, how they lower!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I totally agree about absence making the heart grow fonder re: kids. It's one of the reasons I am still waffling a little about the preschool thing, actually. I keep thinking, "Would I be a nicer mom if I didn't have to listen to her talking at- I mean to- me all. day. long?!
Wow, Jana, you really did a lot! Bummer about the hives, though!!
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